Prior to his role as vice president of Americas partner development and operations, Kim was director of channel operations at Juniper. Before joining Juniper in 2007, Kim oversaw SMB business partner sales at IBM, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Mark Robinson, president of CentraComm, a Findlay, Ohio-based solution provider and Elite Juniper partner, said that while CentraComm is "still bullish" on Juniper, losing some of the company's top channel talent has been disappointing.

"I have been working with Juniper for a long time, so any time these guys leave, when I've gotten to know them personally, it's hard not to be disappointed," Robinson told CRN. "Hojin [Kim] wasn't as visible to VARs because of his role … but, from my personal experience and from what I hear from other Juniper folks, he was an exceptionally talented guy."

The latest shake-up to Juniper's channel team comes just one month after the company named former Verizon CTO Shaygan Kheradpir its new CEO. The appointment of Kheradpir, a 10-year Verizon veteran, prompted Juniper partners to question whether Juniper will be placing a bigger bet on the service provider market moving forward.

"Certainly, there has been a wave the last year or so with Juniper, but I don't think that's abnormal, necessarily. I think it's cyclical," Robinson told CRN. "I think the most important thing is that their products are getting better and that they continue to have a good story there. I just wish they could do both, and have the stability on the executive side and the product side. But, at the end of the day, we are still moving forward."